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Freedom Party
The Freedom Party is a political party in the Commonwealth of Rutania with headquarters in the capital city of Port Nelson in Khodor. The Freedom Party was founded in 2064.The political platform of the Freedom Party reflects the party's particular brand of libertarianism, favouring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, low taxation levels and strong civil liberties with a strong accent on government accountability to the people. Platform Key tenets of the Freedom Party platform include the following: * Adoption of laissez-faire principles which would reduce the state's role in the economy. This would include, among other things, markedly reduced taxation, privatisation of social security and welfare * Privatisation of any government owned industries and the elimination of government enforced monopolies * Protection of property rights. * Minimal government bureaucracy. The Freedom Party states that the government's responsibilities should be limited to the protection of individual rights from the initiation of force and fraud. * Strong civil liberties positions, including privacy protection, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and sexual freedom. * Support for the unrestricted right to the means of self-defence (such as gun rights, the right to carry mace or pepper spray.) * Abolition of laws against what are called victimless crimes: (prostitution, driving without a seatbelt, use of controlled substances, gambling, fraternisation). * Opposition to regulations on how businesses should run themselves * A foreign policy of free trade and non-interventionism. * Support for a fiscally responsible government, meaning opposition to high taxes and government debt. * Abolition of almost all forms of taxpayer-funded assistance (welfare, food stamps, public housing, etc.) History Foundation The Freedom Party was founded in 2064 by Gregory Ellis in the city of Port Nelson, Khodor. At the time Rutania was dominated by the Rutania Social Democrat Party (RSDP), the Conservative Party, and the Libertarian Alcoholic Party. The founders believed that Rutania, due to the lack of a true freedom loving party, needed a political organisation that represented the views of all liberty inclined Rutanians. Instant Success The Freedom Party registered with the electoral commission in 2064 and in the first elections since its inception, thanks to the financial backing of individuals, businesses, and the message it put out, the Freedom Party received 23.34% of the vote in December elections of 2068, obtaining 117 seats in the 499 seat Rutanian Parliament. This instantly made them the third biggest party in Rutania, and the state of Khodor backed the party from the beginning as the party won the state with 41% of the vote. Breakthrough at Last From 2068 to 2084 the Freedom Party was always one the biggest five political parties, never dropping below 10% of the vote. It wasn't until the election July 2084 that the Freedom Party's leader, Gregory Ellis, polled enough votes to make it to the second round of Presidential election, having finished second behind Caitriona NicMhaoir of the Humanist Socialist Party. In an intense second round, Gregory Ellis triumphed by 1.3 million votes to become Federal President of Rutania for the first time. This triumph coincided with the Freedom Party becoming the largest party in the Federal Parliament for the first time, winning 140 of the available 599 seats. Khodor, Kragusrov, and Delvar were now voting for the Freedom Party in droves. Founding of World Capitalist Alliance In December 2088, the Freedom Party founded the worldwide political organisation, the World Capitalist Alliance. Headquartered in Port Nelson, Rutania, the World Capitalist Alliance was set out to unite all capitalist parties throughout Terra for the purpose of advocating and seeing the implementation of free market policies, free trade, and individual rights. Having missed the 2087 elections due to a decision to de-register the party due to the ill-health of their leader, the Freedom Party returned for the 2089 elections and once again Gregory Ellis gained the Presidency, this time over the candidate for the Liberal Imperialist Party. It also saw the party's biggest win to date in the Parliament elections, gaining 150 out of the available 599 seats to break the 25% barrier. The Freedom Party, combined with the Liberal Imperialists and the newly formed Grand Republican Party formed a cabinet of free market supporting parties that started a free market revolution in the nation of Rutania. Backlash The social democrat inclined populace of Rutania, uncomfortable with the free market reforms instituted by the Freedom Party, responded with a vengeance to the FP led free market revolution, kicking out the FP at the next election of 2092 as the FP suffered their worst ever election results, obtaining just 8% of the vote and under 50 seats for the first time, gaining 49. Rebuilding from being blamed for the pains the economy was going from due to the free market policies, the party could only nudge itself above 10% in the election of 2094. There was hope for the capitalists as the Liberal Imperialist Party had triumphed at the last two elections, the Imperialist and Defence inclined LIP had struck a chord with the Rutanian populace. Revival The August 2096 election saw the Freedom Party return to their previous heights as Gregory Ellis made the second round of the Presidential election and the Freedom Party became the second biggest party in the parliament. The capitalist coalition was maitained. The free market policies laid down by the FP between 2089 and 2092 were now having a transforming effect on the Rutania economy as it grew to unprecedented levels and the people of Rutania, realising their mistakes, voted the FP back in. The revival was confirmed with Ellis winning the Presidency in 2099, only to lose it when the FP failed to register in time for the 2101 elections. Domination The period from 2106 to 2124 saw the domination of Rutanian politics by Gregory Ellis, thanks to the support of the party that was dominating Rutanian politics, the Conservative Party. The 2106 election saw Ellis, with the support of the Conservatives, go through to the second round of the election with twice as many votes as any other candidate. In the second round, the LIP, Civic Democratic Party, and the Conservatives threw their support behind Ellis in a signal of capitalist unity and the result was a thumping victory with Ellis gaining 71% of the vote in the second round. This period saw the Freedom Party remain one of the biggest parties in Rutanian politics, but it was the support of the Conservative Party for Gregory Ellis in the Presidential elections, which allowed him to win consecutive elections. A deal had been struck between the two whereby the Freedom Party would not campaign heavily in Delvar, the Conservatives home state, in exchange for their support of Ellis for the Presidency. The other two capitalist parties, the CDP and the LIP, ran candidates in the first round but supported the FP in the second round if they failed to progress to that. The closest election of this time was 2115 when Thomas Boyle of the RSDP came within 2% of Ellis in the second round, having won the first round. This election saw the RSDP replace the Conservatives as the largest party, winning 187 of the 599 seats available. During this period, the province of Ardinia established itself as a Freedom Party stronghold. The domination of Ellis was ended by the Radical Freedom Party's, a splinter group of the FP, support of Thomas Boyle of the RSDP for the Presidency in 2124. This saw the RFP ostracised from the Freedom movement, and the World Capitalist Alliance. The Thomas Boyle Affair The loss of the Presidency to the hated RSDP sent shockwaves through the capitalist coalition as it was deemed obvious that the people grew tired of the ageing Ellis and favoured a fresher face. In the elections of March 2127 there was disagreement over endorsements between the four parties as the FP, in return for the Conservatives support since 2106 endorsed their candidate, Sophia Whitefield, while the LIP support the CDP's Charles Pomeroy. In the meantime, the RFP continued its endorsement of Thomas Boyle. Despite the Freedom Party's endorsement of the Con candidate, Whitefield, she had failed to make the second round by the slimmest of margins. In the second round, Thomas Boyle triumphed over Charles Pomeroy, devastating the Freedom Party. The result was a hard blow for the FP as at the time they considered the President, Thomas Boyle, to be embarrassing Rutania abroad and acting in an unprofessional manner due to his actions at the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Boyle was advocating the elimination of racial discrimination through positive discrimination, a contradiction pointed out by the Foreign Minister at the time, Bruce Dickinson of the Freedom Party. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination April 2024. Despite protestations from several parties, Boyle was refusing to countenance that positive discrimination was in itself racial discrimination. So when the election of March 2027 came and went and Boyle was elected President again the Freedom Party conducted polling which found that despite their endorsement of the Conservatives its voters had voted in the majority, 84%, for the Civic Democratic Party candidate. It also found that while Boyle achieved around 79% turnout amongst his supporters, Pomeroy achieved only 59%. A conference was called where the original capitalist coalition, which had been broken up when the FP joined the RFP and RSDP in Cabinet, met and decided to call an early election and in that election support the CDP's Pomeroy for Federal President. The FP, LIP and Conservatives would not run a candidate, but instead endorse Pomeroy. The strategy required a bill for early elections to pass, and the Freedom Party proposed it in Parliament with Call for Early Elections, March 2127 "We, the Freedom Party, call for early elections as soon as we can reach a consensus. In an effort to remove the President and send someone who is willing to compromise to the ending of racial discrimination convention. Because Thomas Boyle is not fit to serve." The bill received howls of protest from the RSDP and the RFP, and they voted against it, calling it a "Shameful affront to democracy". The capitalist coalition had a majority in the Parliament and the bill passed 352 votes to 247. The resulting elections saw the reasoning of the FP's strategy come to fruition when the results of the Presidential race were released for the first round. Despite the howls of protest and vicious advertising against what the capitalists had done, the people of Rutania voted for the capitalists in the same numbers and the result was a first round victory for Charles Pomeroy, a triumph for the capitalist coalition. In the Background (2130-2165) During the period 2130-2165 Rutanian politics was dominated by two individuals, Iqbal "The Drunkard" McLiberty, and Jon Willem Daatman. These two, members of the Libertarian Alcoholic Party and Radical Freedom Party respectively, competed against each other for the Presidency over the 35 years from the Thomas Boyle Affair to 2165. After the failures of McLiberty, the capitalist coalition united behind the FP's Till Lindemann but he failed on three occasions to unseat Daatman, each time achieving over 49% of the second round vote having won the first round convincingly each time. Lindemann Years It needed the return of the Grand Republican Party for Lindemann to finally win the Presidency and in the process defeat Daatman, who failed to make the second round in 2165 due to the success of McLiberty for the LAP. This period saw Lindemann triumph in four consecutive Presidential elections and the FP were the largest party in Parliament for this period as well. It was a period of extreme success for the Freedom Party and capitalists in Rutania. Danneskjold's Time Ragnar Danneskjold succeeded Lindemann as party leader in 2179 and this saw him elected President in the same year thanks to Lindemann's backing of the Liberal Imperialists. This saw a spell where Danneskjold was elected President 7 out of 8 times, with a streak of 6 consecutive terms, a consecutive total of 24 years, serving 27 years in total. The only blip was Matthew Ellis' win for the Radical Freedom Party in 2082. Wilderness and Dissolution Following the success of Danneskjold, when he eventually got kicked out, the party struggled and it wasn't until the election of Jack Wegason as party leader did their fortunes revive. Even then, it took until 2228, twenty years after the completion of Dannesjold's last term as President, for a FP leader to become President. It was achieved thanks to the support of the Libertarian Alcoholic Party in the second round against the Central Block's candidate. Following Wegason's two terms from 2228 to 2036, the LAP's candidate got through to the second round and the FP supported him for two terms. With dropping elections results and no new faces coming through, the Freedom Party dissolved itself in 2246. 2290 to 2356 The FP reformed for 66 years but never achieved the same success as it did before, Horatio Nelson frequently got through to the second round of the Presidential election but was always defeated by his opponent. The party reflected Rutania at the time, apathetic and distinctly not doing much. There were few political parties in Rutania during this time and it seemed politics throughout Terra was becoming boring. The party dissolved itself again in 2356. Category:Rutania Category:Political parties in Rutania